Solar Group Buy will Grow Solar in your Community

StraightUp Solar's Successful Group Buys To Date

Are you Eligible for One of Our 2020 Solar Group Buy Programs?

Grow Solar Metro East

2020 marks the fourth year of this program, available to homeowners and commercial property owners across St. Louis Metro East Counties: Calhoun, Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair. Participants can thank host organizations Lewis and Clark Community College, Collinsville Cool Cities, Glen Carbon Cool Cities Committee, Madison County Resource Management, and Sierra Club for helping make solar installations more affordable with the power of group buying. If you live in one of these areas, act quickly before the program ends on August 31, 2020. To get started, sign up for the next Solar Power Hour.

Grow Solar St. Louis

This education and group purchase program, now in its second year, offers residential property owners in St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and now St. Charles County a special, affordable solar intallation rate through August 31st, 2020. Presented by host organizations the Missouri Botanical Garden and Washington University. Attend a free informational Solar Power Hour to learn more.

Renew STL Solar

This innovative program, the first of its kind in the Midwest and brought to you by Renew Missouri and Washington University, provides affordable, simplified solar solutions for commercial and non-residential customers in the St. Louis region. Installing solar through the program can free up additional resources for your business or organization by creating utility cost savings in the short-term, and can increase the value of your buildings in the long-term. Renew STL Solar serves small businesses, large retailers and chains, industrial businesses/warehouses, municipalities and government buildings, hospitals and healthcare organizations, and colleges and universities. Attend a free informational Solar Power Hour to learn more.

Solarize Southern IL

If are a homeowner or small business owner residing in Franklin, Jackson, Union, Perry and Williamson County, you may be eligible to participate in this first-time solar group buy program in Southern Illinois. Hosted by Solarize Southern Illinois Working Group. Like other programs of its type, it lowers the solar installers’ “soft costs” further by providing up-front customer education en masse and localizing the coverage area. This allows you to go solar for a lower price and move your community toward achieving its sustainability goals. For each installation, Solarize Southern Illinois will help fund the new Southern Illinois Renewable Energy Fund to help low-income community members go solar. Program deadline is August 31, 2020, so sign up now!

Solar Urbana-Champaign 5.0

Entering it's fifth year and going strong, Solar Urbana-Champaign 5.0 brings homeowners and small business owners of Champaign, Piatt and Vermillion Counties in Illinois an affordable option for solar. The host organization the City of Urbana and Prairie Rivers Network invite you to join your community in going solar before the program ends on August 31, 2020. Join the next Solar Power Hour to get started.

What Is a Solar Power Group Buy?

A solar group buy is a group of individuals, often tied together by some common affiliation, teaming up to help each other go solar. A group can be formed by a local municipality, club, employer, etc.

The group accesses community presentations to learn about the nuts and bolts of solar electricity, finds the best installer, and then pools their purchasing power. The end result? Meaningful lower pricing, less individual hassles, and the highest-quality installations.

Sometimes organizing a ‘group buy’ within a community comes about organically. The Midwest Renewable Energy Association coordinates many of these programs with local organizations like the Ecology Action Center in Bloomington-Normal, the Cool Cities Committee in Godfrey, and the Missouri Botanical Garden. In other instances, StraightUp Solar proactively introduces the idea such as when we worked with MilliporeSigma to help their employees solarize their homes.

Either way, we then provide the tools for the entity to organize their group buy program, and then we launch it with them. We have specialized expertise to help any organization pave the way for their own group buy solar program.

A solar Group Buy is a great way for a(n):

Municipality to support their residents’ endorsement of moving to sustainable and locally sourced electricity;

Employer to genuinely say thank you without impacting the firm’s benefits budget;

House of Worship to demonstrate its sustainability mission;

Electric Vehicle Owner Club to encourage them to go solar;

Homeowner's Association to increase property value;

Garden Club to harness the sun in yet another way;

School or University to promote campus sustainability and support their educators who are eager to go solar;

Solar electricity (or photovoltaics, PV) is expected to lower an individual’s electricity bill, and is a home investment for 25 years, and creates clean energy.

The substantial community benefit can also be a compelling draw for individuals. A group buy encourages others to go solar, allows the group to spread the savings through rebates given if certain targets are reached, and multiplies environmental impact while supporting the local economy.

The appeal of solar group buying is universal. That’s why cities, counties, nonprofits, large schools, and major employers are using the group buying model with great success nationwide.

100KW of Solar PV (powers about 13 homes year round) can:

BRING Over $300,000 into the Local Economy, including 800 Hours of Construction Work

PREVENT 24,000 gallons of Water Lost to creating steam to spin turbines for electricity

Any size community can create their own solar group buy to share the benefits of solar. Define your group based on geography, organization, or employer.

2.

Find Your Community Partners

Use the power of your networks to find promotional partners and host locations for education sessions.

3.

Pick Your Solar Partner

A local solar installation company can provide the design, installation, and even educational services for your solar group buy. Develop selection criteria, including quality of installed work, potential discounts, time in business, community involvement, and NABCEP certification.

4.

Host Solar Education Sessions

Provide a brief but helpful overview on how solar works and the details of the group buy for participants who want to learn about the program. Pictured here: Solar Urbana-Champaign group buy participants attend a solar education session.

5.

Grow Solar in Your Community

Celebrate as the homes and businesses of your community are filled with solar power systems. They will provide clean energy to the grid and may lower electric bills for decades to come.

Ok, but where does my organization begin?

Can I get something like this in motion on my own?

To start, our Director of Business Development will have an introductory conversation with you. This can be done by phone with you or in a meeting with an exploratory committee or organizational leadership.

The Director of Business Development will first help you spell out exactly what you might have in mind, and then identify some specific goals and objectives. This simple step creates the very foundation for your program.

From here there are several paths you can follow to get your program successfully designed and up and running. We’ll help you figure out what’s best for your group.